First national living donor registry launched

The nonprofit Donate Life America and Fresenius Medical Care Foundation, which helps those affected by kidney disease, just announced the first national, universal living donor registry. Interested members of the public can sign up to become living donors, and will be able to share saliva samples through at-home matching kits, which are also being introduced as part of the new effort. In partnership with local transplant networks and the United Network for Organ Sharing — which manages the U.S. organ transplant system — donors will be matched with potential recipients around the country. The living donor registry — which is expected to go live next spring — will be integrated into the existing registry of organs from deceased donors. Some 113,000 people in the U.S. are on the waitlist for an organ, according to DLA, and increasing the number of living donors could help address the need.